


i hope you know i care

by ciitadel



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, M/M, Song fic, Zombie Apocalypse, i promise no one dies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:15:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26190244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ciitadel/pseuds/ciitadel
Summary: “Sokka, are you alright?” Zuko asked once he was sure the hunters were gone.“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Sokka whisper-shouted from below him. “Why on earth did you have us jump into an open elevator shaft!”“We weren’t gonna make it to the door,” Zuko said.“So you decided jumping into the literal void was a better option?!” While Zuko couldn’t see Sokka’s face in the dark, he could imagine the incredulous look he was giving him right now.“Hey, we’re alive, aren’t we?” Zuko challenged.Sokka sighed. “Yeah, true. Anyway, are we going to climb back up? Or are we gonna justhang outhere for a little while longer?”“Was… was that a fucking pun?”From below, he heard a stifled giggle. “M-Maybe.”Zuko was glad for the darkness, because he could pretend to be annoyed at the joke by sighing because Sokka couldn’t see the smile that had spread across his face.or, who says you can't pine for your best friend in the apocalypse?
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 19
Kudos: 262





	i hope you know i care

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys! I'm gonna be 100% real, I don't exactly write one shots a lot so idk what came over me to write this but I just always have a soft spot in my heart for zombie aus and I wanted to write something for the   
> [zukkanet](https://zukkanet.tumblr.com/post/625280438202712065/id-a-photo-of-books-of-sheet-music-with-falling) event of the month which was song lyrics, so I ended up basing this off the song delta spirit by yamaha with the specific lyrics "I hope you know I care" 
> 
> (I first heard yamaha by delta spirit in a zombie movie. so i'm sure yall can see the connection)
> 
> anyway, I really hope you guys enjoy this! it definitely has a lot of action in it along with some good ol gay pining!

Zuko could hear footsteps pounding behind him. 

His heart was pounding in his chest. His lungs were burning. In the corner of his eye, he could see Sokka running beside him, and in front of him he could see Katara’s braid bouncing against her back. 

The footsteps following them grew louder, and Zuko knew the hunters were gaining on them. 

Aang was at the front of the group, leading them through the maze that was the run-down office building. They weaved through dusted cubicles, their shoes crunching on shattered glass. Zuko wasn’t sure where Aang was taking them, because the guards were blocking the stairwell they’d used to get up to the fourth floor in the first place. Honestly, Aang was probably just trying to get them away from the hunters, but it ran the risk of them getting cornered. 

Zuko knew they couldn’t keep running. Sooner or later the hunters were going to catch up. 

Looking to his left, Zuko made eye contact with Sokka, and could tell he was thinking the same thing. Over the past few months since Zuko had joined their group, the two boys had gotten rather good at reading each other just through looks. When Katara and Aang were giving each other lovey-dovey stares, Sokka would give Zuko a look that always meant _do you want to take watch together so we don’t have to witness this?_. Or when Toph and Katara were going at it again, Zuko would give Sokka a desperate look, one that he always was able to read as, _please make them stop, I’m too scared of Katara to get involved_. 

So it was easy to know exactly what Sokka was thinking when he glanced to Zuko during their chase. The raised eyebrows, the glance back to the hunters before meeting Zuko’s eyes again. It was the look that said, _do you want to hold them off so the others can get away?_

It was dangerous. Most of the time, their group's philosophy was to run from hunters unless there was no other choice. Because the hunters were dangerous, even more dangerous than the hordes of the undead that wandered the streets. Zuko knew this better than any of them, considering he used to be one. 

Deciding to stay back and fight the hunters was a risky move for both Zuko and Sokka. But if they caught up to Aang it would be all over. If they had Suki with them, Zuko wouldn’t be as worried. She was better at fighting the hunters than anyone else in the group, including Zuko. But she had stayed back at the camp with Toph, so they could guard their supplies. 

The footsteps were even louder now. The constant _thud thud thud_ against the rotted carpet. They were running out of time. 

Zuko reached for his dao swords and nodded at Sokka. 

Grinning, Sokka grabbed his own sword off his hip. They were nearing the end of a hallway that seemed to branch off in two different directions. Sokka skidded to a stop with Zuko right beside him, which made Katara and Aang both freeze. 

“What are you guys doing?! We have to go!” Katara shouted. 

“You guys keep going! We’ll catch up!” Sokka yelled back. 

Katara opened her mouth to argue, but Aang grabbed her wrist before she could say anything. She spared one last torn glance between Sokka and Zuko, before sighing and following Aang down the right side of the hallway. Sokka and Zuko placed themselves at the intersection, both boys wielding their swords in front of them as they whipped around to face the hunters. 

There were four of them. Their faces were shrouded by the red bandanas that were signature to the Caldera Fort, and each one was holding some kind of melee weapon. There was a bat, a sledgehammer, another sword, and literal _nunchucks_. 

As the men approached, Zuko darted towards the two on the right—sledgehammer and nunchucks—while Sokka took the two on the left. 

Sledgehammer swung at him first. Zuko darted out of the way, hearing the heavy hammer crash into the drywall behind his head. Nunchucks then swung at him, and Zuko slashed one of his dao swords towards the guy. 

The fight was mostly Zuko dodging the sledgehammer while trying not to let the nunchucks wrap around either of his swords. When he glanced to Sokka, he seemed to be faring just about as well as he was. Neither of them was winning, but neither one was losing either. It didn’t matter. They weren’t trying to win. They just needed to give Aang and Katara enough time to get out of the building. 

The sledgehammer aimed for Zuko again, and he just barely danced out of the way as it crashed into the floor. Then, a nunchuck was wrapping around his arm, and Zuko yelped as his arm was yanked down. His sword clattered to the floor, and Zuko ducked down to try and grab it when the guy with the sledgehammer used his foot to push it out of the way. 

The Nunchuck guy suddenly slammed Zuko to the wall, but he kept a firm grip on his other sword. Clenching his teeth, Zuko threw his head forward as hard as he could, head butting the other guy and sending him to the floor. 

Then, there was a sledgehammer coming for his face, and Zuko dropped to the ground right as it broke into the wall he’d just been standing in front of. Scrambling along the floor while sledgehammer guy struggled to get his weapon out of the wall and Nunchuck guy was still disoriented, Zuko grabbed his other sword and leapt back to his feet. 

“C’mon Sokka, let’s go!” Zuko shouted, figuring they had stalled for long enough. 

Clashing his sword with the other guy’s sword one last time, Sokka roundhouse kicked the man he was currently engaged with in the head, which Zuko recognized as a move Suki had taught him. Then, the two were sprinting down the right hallway, trying to get ahead before the hunters caught up to them once more. 

The rotting carpet turned to stained marble beneath their feet, and both boys slowed as they realized they had entered the main lobby of this floor. There was a blood-spattered receptionist desk at the far end of the room, with an exit sign hanging over a door behind it. To the left was a line of elevator doors, all defunct and partially open. 

The exit door must’ve been where Aang and Katara had gone. Zuko and Sokka both sprinted for it, but the footsteps were right behind them. 

A pair of fingers brushed the back of Zuko’s shirt, and he realized they weren’t going to be able to make it to the exit door. 

His eyes whipped back to the row of elevators. The one closest to them was partially open, only a few feet of space from the bottom leading into the inky black void of the elevator shaft itself. 

Logically, Zuko knew his idea was stupid, and was likely going to get him and Sokka killed. But considering it was either that or get caught by hunters, he knew which option he and Sokka would both rather take. 

Zuko sheathed his swords, noticing how Sokka had already done the same. Then, he grabbed Sokka’s wrist, and veered them towards the partially open elevator door. He heard Sokka make a noise of surprise, but he didn’t resist as Zuko led them away from the exit door. 

“Follow me!” Zuko yelled. He let go of Sokka’s wrist as they got close to the elevator doors. He counted the beats in his head, then he dropped to the ground and grabbed the bottom edge of the elevator door, using it to swing himself into the elevator shaft. 

For a moment, Zuko was free falling. His stomach flew up to his throat, and he flailed in midair as he tried to figure out where the elevator cable was in the darkness. 

Then, his hand touched something cool, and his entire body jerked as he caught himself on the cable. Whipping his head behind him, Zuko watched as Sokka—only visible as a silhouette from the light outside the elevator shaft—flew into the darkness above him. He heard Sokka let out a scream, and reached out his hand not holding onto the cable (ignoring the burning pain in his arm), and felt his hand wrap around a warm wrist. 

The force of suddenly catching Sokka’s weight sent a shooting pain through Zuko’s free arm, and he gritted his teeth as he swung Sokka towards the cable below him. As soon as he felt the weight on his arm from holding Sokka up slacken, he let go, ignoring the burning that was now lancing through most of his upper torso. 

“Shit, did they just jump down the elevator shaft?” Zuko heard one the hunters say from outside the elevator door above. 

“Sure looks like it,” another commented. “Here, let me see if I can spot anything in there.” 

Zuko felt a tugging on his leg. “Slide down so they can’t see us in the shadows!” Sokka hissed. 

Nodding despite the fact that it was too dark for Sokka to see him, Zuko began to carefully inch his way down the cable, with Sokka doing the same beneath him. They both were trying to be as silent as possible so as not to alert the hunters as to their presence. 

The cable was rough in Zuko’s hands, and he could already tell he was going to have a severe rope burn on his palm from grabbing the elevator cable in the first place. He pushed past the stinging though, and shuffled down the cable as much as he could without hitting Sokka in the head. 

“I can’t see anything, do you guys think I should get the flashlight?” 

“Why are we bothering? The bald kid and the girl ran off earlier, and the kid is the one we’re after. Not these two. Besides, they’re probably nothing but pancakes at the bottom of the shaft anyway.” 

“Shit, you’re right. Let’s go.” 

The voices faded as the hunters ran off, and a wave of relief washed over Zuko. Somehow, despite the fact that they literally jumped into an open elevator shaft, they hadn’t died. 

“Sokka, are you alright?” Zuko asked once he was sure the hunters were gone. 

“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Sokka whisper-shouted from below him. “Why on earth did you have us jump into an open elevator shaft!” 

“We weren’t gonna make it to the door,” Zuko said. 

“So you decided jumping into the literal void was a better option?!” While Zuko couldn’t see Sokka’s face in the dark, he could imagine the incredulous look he was giving him right now. 

“Hey, we’re alive, aren’t we?” Zuko challenged. 

Sokka sighed. “Yeah, true. Anyway, are we going to climb back up? Or are we gonna just _hang out_ here for a little while longer?” 

“Was… was that a fucking pun?” 

From below, he heard a stifled giggle. “M-Maybe.” 

Zuko was glad for the darkness, because he could pretend to be annoyed at the joke by sighing because Sokka couldn’t see the smile that had spread across his face. 

A few minutes later, the two boys had managed to struggle their way back up the elevator cable to the door they had slid in from. Zuko had made the jump from the cable to the ledge first, and had nearly screamed when his fingers had begun to slip. But he thankfully had gotten a solid grip and climbed his way up. Then, when Sokka made the same jump, Zuko was able to catch him again, wincing at the pain that came with his shoulder catching that much weight for a second time in the past hour. 

By the time they were both on solid ground again, the hunters were long gone. The boys checked the lobby to make sure, but they heard nothing except for the wind whistling outside the blown out windows. 

The problem was that there seemed to be no sign of Aang or Katara either. 

“You think they’re hiding out on a different floor?” Zuko asked Sokka, after they had doubled back through the maze of cubicles they had been chased through.

“I don’t think so,” Sokka said, bringing a hand up to his chin and leaning against the wall in thought. “The third floor was infested with walkers, and the second floor was completely empty with nowhere to hide. Knowing them, I’d say they probably got down to the first floor and made a run for it.” 

“So basically you’re saying we have no idea where they are?” Zuko asked, frowning and folding his arms over his chest. 

“I mean, they’re either hiding somewhere nearby or they’re already on their way back to camp,” Sokka shrugged. 

“How are you being so casual about this! We just lost our group!” Zuko barked. 

“Oh my god, calm down, drama queen,” Sokka teased, smirking at Zuko. “We literally have a plan for situations like this. If we ever get separated while we’re out, we always agree to meet back at the camp. The plan says that if we’re not back to the camp within 4 days of the separation, we’re probably dead and the others should move on.” 

Zuko’s heart skipped a beat at that. “We only have four days to get back to camp?” 

“Dude. It literally took us, like, not even three hours to walk here from the camp. We’ll be fine,” Sokka explained. 

“Oh yeah,” Zuko muttered, his shoulders sagging with relief. His heart was still pounding in his chest, but he felt a bit better realizing that they had plenty of time to get back to their friends. “Okay, uh, so should we head out now?” 

Sokka looked out to the blown out windows and Zuko followed his gaze. The sun was still high in the sky, but it was starting to dip towards the horizon, meaning they only had a few hours of daylight left. 

“Yeah, we should head out now, but if it starts to get dark I’d rather us find a place to stay overnight instead of continuing on,” Sokka said, readjusting the strap of his sword on his hip. “We got water?” 

Reaching for his backpack, Zuko swung it around to his front and dug through it. His canteen was in there, and when he picked it up he heard the sloshing of water inside, enough to know that it was close to full. 

“Yeah, we’re good on water.” 

“Cool, let’s go then.” 

The two boys made their way through the exit stairwell that Katara and Aang had escaped through earlier. They listened for any sign of the hunters, but the stairwell was completely silent as they made their descent. 

The bottom floor of the building looked exactly as they had left it when they first passed through. The receptionist desk was still tipped over, glass shards still littered the ground, and there was no sign of fresh blood. As far as Sokka and Zuko could tell, Aang and Katara had escaped unscathed. 

There were no hunter trucks outside the building. Zuko figured they must’ve taken off after realizing Aang had gotten away. The streets were mostly empty, the only company for Zuko and Sokka being the towering skyscrapers desolate and crumbling above their heads. 

It was an overcast day. The sky was a blanket of white, with Zuko unable to see even the faintest hint of blue through the cloud bank. The air was heavy and warm, making their clothes stick against their skin as sheens of sweat began to appear on both of their foreheads. While Zuko usually didn’t mind the heat, humidity was always insufferable. 

The camp was on the outskirts of the city, in the ruins of an abandoned gas station next to the freeway. It wouldn’t be difficult to find their way back. All they had to do was follow the freeway southbound and hopefully the two of them would be back before sundown. 

“So, uh, I wanted to say thanks,” Sokka said out of the blue at one point, after they’d been walking for a while. “For catching me when I jumped into that elevator. I was kinda worried I was gonna end up splattered against concrete when I followed you in there.” 

Pausing in his steps, Zuko turned to look at Sokka, and frowned. 

“Why are you thanking me for that? I barely caught you. You could’ve died!” In retrospect, Zuko was already regretting his hasty actions. Yes, it had gotten them away from the hunters. However, it had been dangerous. Incredibly dangerous. Zuko had barely managed to grab onto the elevator cable himself, he had no idea why he had been so certain he could catch Sokka. If he had missed Sokka’s hand even by half an inch, Sokka would be dead right now. All because he had trusted Zuko and followed him without hesitation. 

Zuko gulped. He didn’t want to think about that. 

“Wow, you mean jumping into an open elevator shaft four stories up wasn’t something totally safe?” Sokka asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. He cocked a grin at Zuko and slapped a hand on his shoulder, and Zuko ignored the way Sokka’s touch sparked like electricity against his skin. “Look, you got us away from the hunters. You were thinking on your feet, and it was smart. We’d probably be sitting in the back of a hunter van right now if it wasn’t for you.” 

“It was stupid and impulsive,” Zuko argued. “You shouldn’t trust me blindly like that, Sokka. What if you had gotten hurt?” 

Sokka stared at Zuko for a moment, his expression flickering between uncertainty and worry. After a moment of hesitation, he sighed and took a step closer to Zuko so that they were face to face. 

“Yes, it was stupid. Yes, it was impulsive. And logically, I should not have followed you. But whether you like it or not, I trust you, and I trust your judgement.” He paused again, before smiling. “Besides, that’s what makes us such a good team, right? I’m the plan guy, and you’re the impulse guy. I plan out moves way in advance, and you make decisions on the go. We balance each other out.” 

A heat began to rise in Zuko’s cheeks, and he ducked his head so he didn’t have to see how close Sokka was to him. “Yeah, I guess so,” he said softly. “I just… if something were to happen to you-” 

Zuko cut himself off mid-sentence. He could hear something that was ahead of them. Something that was difficult to make out, but almost sounded like… moaning?

“Do you hear that?” Zuko asked Sokka, because he knew his own hearing wasn’t the best considering he was deaf in his left ear. 

Stepping back from Zuko, Sokka turned towards the road ahead, and closed his eyes to focus. Zuko tried to strain his one good ear as well, and as the seconds passed, he became more and more certain that he was not imagining the noise. 

“Shit,” Sokka hissed. “It sounds like a horde.” 

“Fuck, are you serious?” Zuko asked, whipping his head towards the source of the noise. As the seconds dragged on and the noise became easier to make out, Zuko quickly realized Sokka was right. He could hear the moans of dozens upon dozens of the undead, and Zuko cursed under his breath. Besides running into hunters, this was the main risk that came with scavenging in cities. Getting caught by hordes. And this horde seemed to be coming straight at them. 

“We need to get inside so we can wait this out,” Sokka said, eyes darting around the different buildings. Zuko followed his lead, looking around for any buildings that seemed solid enough to protect them against a horde for the next few hours. 

Most of the buildings were crumbling masses with blown out windows. Zuko was pretty sure this had been a financial district, full of tall skyscrapers made almost entirely of glass in the name of aesthetic. While that may have looked rather nice at the time, now it was leaving Sokka and Zuko with very few options as to where to hide. 

Then, there was the sound of a revving engine. 

Whipping his head behind them, Zuko’s eyes widened when he spotted the unmistakable black metal of a hunters truck. The armored military vehicle barreled straight towards them, the red flame symbol spray painted on the side almost painful in its vibrancy. 

“Shit! We have to hide,” Zuko hissed, grabbing Sokka’s wrist and veering left towards the building closest to them. Sokka stumbled over his feet at Zuko suddenly jerking him, but he quickly regained his footing and started sprinting beside him towards the blown out windows of a building that seemed to have been a bank in the old world. 

They jumped through the floor to ceiling window frames, hearts pounding as the roar of the engine grew louder behind them. Tires screeched and Zuko ran for the stairwell door that sat in the corner of the lobby. His hand was outstretched, ready to push open the door and sprint up the stairs with Sokka as fast as he possibly could, when an all too familiar voice spoke. 

“Don’t even want to say hi to your baby sister, Zuzu?” Azula called out. 

Zuko froze in his tracks, sending Sokka slamming into his back. He heard Sokka curse under his breath at the sudden stop, but Zuko couldn’t find the words to apologize because all he could think about was the fact that _she_ was here. 

Turning around as slow as he could, Zuko tried to brace himself to face his sister again. 

Azula was standing in front of the building, across the lobby in the archway of one of the broken windows. She was dressed in the black and red body armor that was a trademark to the hunters, but a flash of gold on her right shoulder signaled that she was no ordinary hunter. 

Surprisingly, there were no other hunters with her. It seemed as though she had driven out here by herself. 

She was smiling at both of them. Zuko pushed Sokka behind him without thinking. 

“What do you want, Azula?” Zuko demanded, taking a step back towards the stairwell door. 

“Oh, nothing in particular. I just heard that the Cure had been spotted in the financial district with his friends, including a boy with a very identifiable scar,” Azula explained. “When the team told me that they had lost both the Cure and the boy with the scar, I decided to check things out for myself. See if my theory was true. And it seems I was.” 

“Don’t call him the ‘Cure’, he has a name!’ Sokka yelled, and Zuko winced when he flashed back to the times he called Aang the exact same thing. 

“Oh yes, of course he does. My bad. What is it again? Chang?” Azula questioned, raising an eyebrow. Zuko grit his teeth, struggling to keep his temper quelled. “Anyway, I’m guessing he’s not with you currently, considering he and the girl got away long before you and your friend here jumped into an elevator shaft.” 

“No, he’s not. So can you leave us alone?” Zuko asked, even though he already knew the answer to that. 

“Zuzu, you were never the smart one in the family,” Azula teased, clicking her tongue and shaking her head. “You two know where his camp is, so of course I have to take you both into custody.” 

“Like hell you will!” Sokka yelled. Before Zuko could say anything, Sokka was dragging him through the doorway, and they were sprinting up the stairs. 

Zuko had no idea how tall this building was. He was pretty sure Sokka had no idea how tall this building was. He could hear Azula’s footsteps pounding right behind them, and while he knew his legs were already beginning to burn, he was sure Azula felt right as rain. 

They ran. Every time they came to the exit door to one of the floors, a glance behind would confirm that Azula was hot on their heels, and any turn would give her the opportunity to grab one of them. So instead, Zuko and Sokka kept going up and up, hoping that Azula would begin to lose some of her stamina and fall behind. 

Suffice to say, that didn’t happen.

Instead, what did happen was Zuko realized this building was only about ten stories tall, because they reached the door to the roof. They had effectively backed themselves into a corner, with Azula just barely brushing her fingers against the back of Zuko’s shirt. 

They didn’t have a choice, so Sokka burst through the door to the roof and the two stumbled out onto the gravel. 

Wind ruffled Zuko’s hair, wicking away the sweat from the chase on his arms and his face. Sokka had let go of his wrist and was scrambling to his feet, while Zuko was doing the same. Side by side, they stared at the door to the roof, where Azula was stepping out to join them. 

“Looks like neither of you have anywhere to run now,” Azula taunted. 

Both boys took a step back from her, and Zuko felt his ankles hit the slightly raised stone ledge of the roof. Sparing one glance towards the ground below, Zuko’s stomach dropped when he saw a writhing mass of brown and red making its way past the front of the building like a decaying school of fish. It was the horde they had heard. It must’ve been closer than either Sokka or Zuko had realized. 

Zuko’s heart was pounding in his ears. She had them trapped. Not only on the edge of the roof, but with a horde of zombies below them. They were completely fucked. 

Gritting his teeth, Zuko drew his dao swords from his back. Beside him, he noticed Sokka wince before reaching for his own sword. Despite how terrible Azula was, it was obvious Sokka seemed reluctant to fight Zuko’s sister. In all honesty, Zuko felt the same way. 

But he knew Azula. She wasn’t going to just give up. They didn’t have a choice. 

Azula lunged first. She leapt towards Zuko, a small dagger presenting itself from her hip. Zuko blocked the hit easily with his swords, but Azula ducked and aimed a jab for his abdomen, which was only narrowly blocked by Sokka’s sword. 

And thus, the dance began. Azula tried to get at both Zuko and Sokka with her dagger, and Sokka and Zuko attempted to slash her with their weapons. While one would think that three full swords against a single dagger was an easy win, Azula was scarily fast. Neither could even so much as cut off a strand of her hair. 

Soon, things took a turn for the worse. Sokka swung at her, but Azula’s foot met his wrist, and Sokka’s sword went clattering along the roof. Zuko moved to jump in front of Sokka, but Azula then dropped into a crouch and swiped Zuko’s legs out from under him, sending him falling to the gravel. Now with Zuko on the ground and Sokka defenseless, Azula danced over to Sokka. He tried to throw a punch at her but she caught his hand in her own, and twisted his arm behind his back. 

By the time Zuko had managed to scramble to his feet, Azula was standing against the edge of the roof, holding her dagger to Sokka’s throat. 

“I’d be very careful if I were you, Zuko,” Azula crooned. “One wrong move and your friend is going to lose all of his blood very very quickly.” 

Sokka squirmed in her grip, but both boys were much, _much_ weaker than Azula. Azula had access to plenty of food, water, and actual medical care. Zuko had only eaten a single fruit cup this morning for breakfast, and he was pretty sure Sokka hadn’t eaten anything since last night. The last time Zuko had had three meals in a single day was back when he was living in Caldera. This meant Azula most certainly had the upper hand on both of them in terms of physical strength. 

“What do you want?” Zuko asked in a strangled voice, his eyes locked onto the silver gleam of the knife barely pressing against Sokka’s dark skin. 

“Put your swords down,” Azula ordered. 

“No! Zuko don’t-” 

Azula tightened her grip on the hand she had twisted behind Sokka’s back, and he cut himself off with a whimper. “You should be quiet unless you want me to snap your wrist,” she threatened. Paling, Sokka nodded. 

“I-I’ll put the swords down! Just don’t hurt him,” Zuko pleaded. He kept eye contact with Azula as he lowered himself to the gravel. Gently, he set his swords down in front of him, before rising back up to his feet. 

“You think I’m an idiot? Take the switchblade out of your boot,” she barked. Cursing under his breath, Zuko reached into his boot to take out exactly that. Once that was also on the ground, Azula’s frown morphed into a sinister grin. “There we go. In case you forgot, father taught us both the same tricks.” 

“I’d say he taught you more than he ever taught me,” Zuko muttered, folding his arms over his chest. 

Azula seemed to ponder this for a moment. “Very true. I was the more talented pupil after all.” The thought seemed to amuse her. “Anyway, now that I have you both ready to listen to me, I’m going to ask you a simple question. Where is the Cure’s camp located?” 

Zuko winced. He couldn’t tell Azula where their camp was. If Azula found Aang and the others, they would be doomed. He could try to lie, but Azula knew Zuko better than he would like to admit, and one of her many talents growing up had been always knowing when Zuko was lying. 

He looked to Sokka. She was standing so close to the edge, and the dagger was uncomfortably close to piercing Sokka’s throat. His own heart was caught in his throat, thoughts swirling around in his mind in a panic as he tried not to imagine Sokka lying dead on the ground. 

He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t risk Sokka. 

Taking a shaky breath, Zuko hands curled into fists. 

“The… the camp is-” 

Zuko was cut off by a loud yelp. Using the fact that Azula had been distracted by Zuko, Sokka had bitten the hand that was holding the dagger to his throat, forcing her to drop the knife. She was still holding onto his arm, but he was struggling in her grip. 

“You fucking bit me?!” Azula screamed. Sokka grinned, and Azula’s eyes narrowed. 

The next few seconds happened in slow motion for Zuko. Azula let go of Sokka’s arm, and his eyes lit up in relief. Then, she side-stepped so she was no longer standing beside him, but in front of him. She lifted up her leg, and Sokka’s eyes widened as she kicked him square in the chest, sending him stumbling backwards and off the edge of the roof. 

“SOKKA!” Zuko screamed as he disappeared over the edge. 

It all happened in less than five seconds. And Sokka was gone. 

It was as if the world had come crashing down around Zuko. His heart was pounding so loudly, he couldn’t even feel himself breathing. A ringing began in his ears, and nausea crashed over him as the words began to play on repeat in his mind. 

_Sokka’s gone Sokka’s gone Sokka’s gone-_

“Oops. My bad,” Azula teased. 

His best friend was gone, just like that. Zuko was never going to get to laugh at one of Sokka’s stupid jokes again. He was never going to get to see Sokka practically faint over seeing a piece of meat again. They were never going to get drunk off of scavenged wine again, laying against desert rocks side by side, watching the moon pass overhead . 

There was a fierce pain in his chest. He turned his gaze to Azula, who was smirking at him. 

“You killed him,” Zuko growled. 

The smirk fell off Azula’s face as her eyes widened ever so slightly. She had never seen him this angry before. 

“Oh shit,” Azula muttered right as Zuko charged at her. 

Zuko tackled Azula to the ground, sending them both crashing into the gravel. Azula squirmed under his grip, but Zuko kept his grip iron tight. He wasn’t thinking clearly at all. He just pinned his sister to the round, tears burning in his eyes as his thoughts were filled with Sokka. 

“You killed my best friend!” Zuko shouted, pinning Azula’s wrists above her head. 

Azula stopped squirming. “A best friend? That’s a first for you, isn’t it, Zuzu?” 

Rage swelled up inside Zuko, but before he could figure out what he wanted to do to Azula now that he had her pinned, he felt a sharp and devastating pain in his stomach from Azula kneeing him in the gut. Coughing, his grip on Azula’s wrists loosened, and she used the advantage to surge forward, rolling them over and ending up with her pinning him to the ground. 

Using one hand to pin both his wrists, Azula reached up and pulled out the hair pin that had been securing her bun. Jet blac, pin straight hair fell down around her shoulders, and she lifted the pin up, pointing it at Zuko’s face. 

“I’m going to finish what father started, and prove once and for all, that _I’m the better child!_ ” 

Zuko closed his eyes, letting out a breath as he stopped trying to fight back. She had won. 

Then, there was a loud thumping noise, and the grip on his wrists loosened. There was a clattering noise beside his head, and when Zuko opened his eyes, he saw the gold hair pin falling on the ground next to his face. 

Azula slumped over to the side, unconscious. And when Zuko looked up, he was met with Sokka’s wide grin. 

“You really think I’m gonna go down that easily?” Sokka asked. 

And just like that, all the anger dissipated from Zuko. His breath caught in his throat as he stared at Sokka, completely and totally _alive_. 

A hand reached towards Zuko, and when Sokka’s fingers wrapped around his own, the electric current sparked once again. Sokka pulled Zuko to his feet, and Zuko’s chest clenched with worry. 

Before Zuko even realized what he was doing, he found himself running his hands up and down Sokka’s arms, before moving to his chest, and then his shoulders. 

“Are you okay?” He asked, his voice slightly strangled. 

Surprisingly, Sokka didn’t seem to mind the touching. Instead, he reached up to take Zuko’s hands off of his shoulders and interlaced their fingers together. 

“I’m fine. I promise,” he said softly, squeezing Zuko’s hands. Then, he glanced over to where Azula was still lying unconscious, and winced. “But we should get out of here before your crazy ass sister wakes up.” 

Having forgotten about Azula with the shock of realizing Sokka wasn’t dead, Zuko blinked and looked over to her slumped over figure as well. Her eyes were shut, her dark hair splayed out behind her like spilled ink. If Zuko couldn’t see the soft rise and fall of her chest, he would’ve assumed she was dead. 

“Yeah, you’re right. We need to get out of here.” 

Grabbing Zuko’s hand, Sokka led him towards the door to the roof, both boys eyeing Azula’s slumped over form as they passed. While a part of Zuko felt bad for leaving her like this, she was safe up here. No zombie was going to be able to climb that many stories before she woke up. Along with that, they couldn’t work doors. She would be fine. Zuko knew that. 

Still, he couldn’t help the flash of guilt that shot through him as they turned into the stairwell, letting the door slam shut behind them. 

Hand in hand, the boys ran down the stairs as quickly as they could. While the horde could still be outside the building, they knew they couldn’t be anywhere nearby when Azula woke up, so it became a matter of who they were more afraid of. Even without speaking, Zuko knew that the agreed consensus was that Azula was much scarier than an entire horde of the undead. 

They reached the bottom floor. Azula’s truck was still parked outside, and strangely enough, there were no walkers to be seen. Squeezing Sokka’s hand, Zuko shifted to take the lead, gradually approaching the blown out windows and listening for any sign of a zombie. 

When he turned his head to the left, he saw the horde making their way up the road several buildings past their own. They hadn’t come across anything to eat, so there had been no reason for them to stick around. Gradually, the moaning began to fade as the horde got further and further away, and after a few beats, Zuko decided to take the opportunity to move. 

Stepping out onto the street with Sokka at his heels, Zuko’s good eye darted around in search of a new place for them to stay. He quickly spotted a place only two blocks up from the building they were in front of. It looked like an office building similar to the rest, but was dwarfed by the skyscrapers surrounding it. This building couldn’t have been more than three stories tall, and unlike most of the others, was not entirely made out of glass. It was innocuous enough looking that Azula would think to search for them there when she woke up, if she even decided to search for them at all. 

“We’re going there,” Zuko told Sokka, pointing to the building in question. 

Sokka followed Zuko’s hand, and nodded when he saw it. “Looks good. I’ll watch the back.” 

Zuko was reluctant to let go of Sokka’s hand. Not with his heart still pounding over having come so close to losing him just minutes before. He didn’t like the idea of not being able to feel Sokka behind him. 

But he knew they had to be careful, and that when they weren’t facing off against Zuko’s psychotic and insanely strong sister, Sokka was perfectly capable of handling himself. So, he forced himself to disentangle his fingers from Sokka’s, and pulled out his swords to start the trek towards their new safe spot. 

The walk was quick and easy. The horde was focused on moving forward, and the wind was blowing their scent away from the undead. More than anything, Zuko was just worried that at any second, Azula was going to come storming out of the building they had just left, ready to finish what she had started. 

That didn’t happen though. Instead, they made it to the smaller office building without issue. The doors were still intact, and while glass littered the ground from the windows beside it, the windows weren’t floor to ceiling like in the other building. Carefully, Zuko and Sokka crept inside, with Sokka making sure to close the door behind them. 

One quick search later revealed that the first floor was clear, and the second floor had only one zombie inside of it. It had taken seconds for Zuko to dispatch the thing, while Sokka moved onto the third floor. Soon, Sokka gave him the all clear. They were safe to stay here for the night. 

Outside, the sun had begun to set. The edges of the sky were a dark orange behind the cloud cover, with the orange turning to a deeper pink the closer they got to the horizon. As if they were on auto-pilot, Zuko and Sokka began to set up camp. Zuko set up a makeshift fire pit with random office supplies, while Sokka figured out what was and wasn’t flammable in this place. 

Before the sun had fully set, they had a small fire roaring in front of them. While it wasn’t necessarily smart to light a fire inside a building, it wasn’t anything large, and the boys had made sure to move any flammable furniture out of reach of any stray sparks. 

“Alright, I think we’re all set up for the night,” Sokka declared once the final piece of office equipment had been thrown down to feed the flames. 

Zuko let out a sigh of relief at this. Finally, he could breathe. They didn’t have to worry about Azula. They didn’t have to worry about the horde. They didn’t have to worry about surviving the night. Everything had finally been taken care of. 

Dropping his pack to the floor, Zuko lifted his head to look at Sokka. His mind flashed back to Azula shoving him off the edge of the building, and the panic in Sokka’s face right before he had disappeared into thin air. His heart stuttered painfully at the memory, and before Zuko knew it, he was moving across the room and reaching for Sokka. 

Sokka didn’t fight as Zuko’s head dropped onto his shoulder, his entire body weight leaning into the other boy’s. His arms moved up to wrap around Sokka’s waist, pulling him closer as he tried to take deep breaths, reminding him that Sokka was _here_. Sokka reciprocated the gesture, wrapping his arms around Zuko’s shoulders and burying his face in Zuko’s hair. 

“I… I thought I lost you back there,” Zuko said in a low voice. “I was so scared.” 

There was a deep sigh from Sokka. “Honestly, I thought I was dead too. It was only because of my survival instinct that I was able to grab onto the ledge of one of the windows and climb back up.” 

This made Zuko lift his head from Sokka’s shoulders, but he kept his arms around Sokka’s waist. “You grabbed onto the ledge while you were falling?” 

Sokka snorted. “Yeah, and I scraped my fingers all to hell because of it. I’m still not even sure how I did it.” 

“You scraped your fingers?” Zuko questioned. Sokka nodded, and Zuko reached up to pull Sokka’s arms from where they were draped over his shoulders. Gathering Sokka’s hands in his own, he glanced down, and hissed when he saw blood all across Sokka’s palms. “You need to bandage this,” he muttered. 

“It’s fine-” 

“No. We’re going to bandage it,” Zuko said, not leaving any room for argument. Sighing, Sokka nodded, and let Zuko pull him down to the floor next to the fire. Letting go of Sokka’s hands, Zuko reached for his pack and pulled out his first aid kit. While it probably would’ve been better to have some gauze and cotton to wrap his fingers in, the only thing Zuko had were normal band-aids and some hydrogen peroxide. However, it was better than nothing. 

As gently as he could, Zuko took Sokka’s right hand and rested it against his knee, palm up. Then, he took a spare rag from his bag, dumped a little hydrogen peroxide on it, and began to dab at the blood coating Sokka’s fingertips. 

“I can’t believe she did this to you,” Zuko murmured as he worked. 

“I still can’t believe you guys are siblings,” Sokka replied. “Like, Katara and I fight, but we’ve never tried to kill each other, you know?” 

“It was our father,” Zuko said in way of explanation, keeping his gaze locked onto Sokka’s hand. “He raised us to be rivals. He always said that Azula was better than I was, that while I was lucky to be born, she was born lucky.” A humorless chuckle escaped him. “But while I definitely got the short end of the stick, she wasn’t as lucky as she thought she was. Because my father didn’t believe in me, he didn’t put nearly as much pressure on me to be perfect. I was already a disappointment in his eyes. Azula however had to constantly prove to him that she was better than I was. If she messed up even once, it was a horrible failure in our father’s eyes. So she definitely cracked a bit under all the pressure.” 

“That… that’s terrible,” Sokka said softly, gazing at the crackling fire. “So that’s what she meant when she said she was going to prove that she was the better child.” 

Zuko nodded. “Yup. I know she’s crazy, but more than anything I just feel bad for her. At least I was able to get out and stop trying to prove myself to him. I don’t know if Azula will ever be able to do that.” He paused and shook his head. “It still doesn’t excuse what she did though. Her fight was with me. She shouldn’t have gotten you involved.” 

“I gotta admit, that was kind of a dirty move on her part. But to be fair, I did bite her,” Sokka joked, watching as Zuko taped a bandage over one of his fingertips. 

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that,” Zuko snorted. “That was a pretty smart move on your part, except for the fact that you were standing on the edge of a roof.” 

“You know, I really didn’t think she was just going to kick me off like that,” Sokka shrugged. “But when I went down... I gotta admit, it was the most scared I’d ever been. Not really because I was about to die, but because I thought of all the things I regretted not doing before that moment.” 

Zuko winced at this, and moved onto clean and bandage the next hand. “Can... can I ask what you thought about?” 

“Yeah, the first thing I thought of was Katara,” Sokka said softly. “I was upset because this morning before we left camp we’d gotten into an argument. It was nothing serious, it was just about which one of us was on sewing duty for fixing our clothes. But I was terrified thinking that that could’ve been my last conversation with her. That the last things I would’ve said to her would’ve been out of anger.” 

“Sokka, she knows how much you care about her,” Zuko said in an attempt at reassuring him. 

Sokka gave Zuko a bittersweet smile. “Yeah, I know she does. But I’m still going to make sure to tell her I love her when we get back to camp.” There was a brief silence for a moment as Zuko continued to dab away at the blood on Sokka’s left hand. Sokka seemed thoughtful for a moment, the crackling fire reflected in his bright blue eyes, and Zuko waited for him to speak again. 

“There was other stuff I thought about too,” Sokka continued. “Like not being able to get Aang to Omashu, when we promised him we would. That was a big one. Then there was not being able to say bye to Suki or Toph, which would’ve really sucked. And of course there was you.” 

“Me?” Zuko asked, raising an eyebrow as his hands stilled. 

Looking up from his lap to meet Zuko’s eyes, Sokka nodded. 

“Yeah. I realized there was a lot I was going to regret not having told you sooner. Things I wanted to do, but was too scared to do.” 

Zuko had stopped bandaging Sokka’s fingers completely at this point, his heart pounding in his ears as Sokka brought both his hands up to interlace with Zuko’s. Sokka scooted closer so their knees were bumping, and leaned forward so their foreheads were almost touching. 

“What was it? What were you too scared to do?” Zuko whispered, squeezing Sokka’s hands in his own. Their faces were so close now, Zuko could feel Sokka’s breath puffing against his face. It was intoxicating, being this close to Sokka. His pulse was racing, butterflies were fluttering in his stomach, and he wanted nothing more than to close the distance between them. 

“What I wanted to do was this.” 

And with that, Sokka leaned forward to press his lips to Zuko’s. 

Zuko responded eagerly. He pressed against Sokka, smiling as his stomach swooped and his hands found their way to Sokka’s face. Tilting his head, Sokka shifted so he was half-sitting on Zuko’s lap, and Zuko lowered his hands from Sokka’s face to his neck. Sokka’s hands ran up and down Zuko’s sides, every single shift or touch like an electric bolt passing through him. 

After a few moments, Sokka pulled away, and was grinning widely at him. Leaning forward, Zuko rested his head in the crook of Sokka’s shoulder once more, smiling into his neck. “I’ve been wanting to do that for a really long time,” he murmured. 

A soft chuckle escaped Sokka, and it reverberated throughout his entire body. Zuko felt fingers thread into his hair, and he leaned into Sokka’s touch. “Yeah, me too. I’m just mad that it took getting thrown off a building for me to get the courage to show you how much I care about you.” 

Pulling back, Zuko cupped Sokka’s cheeks with one of his hands, and realized he was still smiling because of how full his heart was. 

“Well, I know now,” Zuko whispered. 

Pressing his forehead to Zuko’s, Sokka smiled against his lips. 

“Yeah, you know now.”

**Author's Note:**

> I would say this turned out a lot longer than I thought it'd be but honestly at this point I've accepted that most of my one shots are gonna be at least 5k minimum if not more so yeah i'm not surprised by how long this got
> 
> anyway I hope you guys enjoyed! I really enjoyed setting up the universe here even if we didn't get to see much of it. For context, the general idea is that Aang is immune to be zombified so a radical survivalist town called Caldera run by Ozai is trying to hunt him down so they can basically make him into a lab experiment to find a cure. instead, the gaang is trying to take him to another city, Omashu, which will be a safe haven for Aang from Caldera
> 
> but yeah! like I said this wasn't really about any of that, this fic was about Sokka and Zuko being pining idiots and also Azula being overly intense like usual
> 
> please make sure to leave a comment if you enjoyed! they really mean the world to me :)
> 
> check out my tumblr! @thatsnotrelevant


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